When Shang Cheng stood up to greet him, the two waiters had already entered the garden. Although it was still early, neither of them wore official uniforms, Pan Lian walked in front in a azure pressed leather robe, and Cao Zhang was half a step behind in a sauce-colored fox collar leather robe, and walked along the path by the pond in the garden with a smile. When he saw Shang Cheng through the frozen pond, he smiled and nodded in greeting.

Shang Cheng walked out of the pavilion, walked a few steps, made a long bow on the side of the road, and waited for Pan Cao and the others to return the salute before greeting with a smile: "Duke Yuqing, Duke Chunde, some days are gone." ”

Pan Lian is more than ten years older than Cao Zhang, and the elders are respected, so naturally he spoke first, twisted the black and white mixed and straight-cut beard under his chin, and said with a smile: "We are mediocre and busy people, but we can't compare to Zida Qingxian." The sun is melting, the wind is short, the clouds are long, and a pot of fragrant tea is stilted and smiling, and it is a good interest to reach it. As he spoke, he stepped up the steps, pressed his hand against the book on the stone table and glanced at it, nodded slightly without speaking, and let his hand go, "Sit and talk." He said that he should sit down first.

When Shang Cheng also sat down, Cao Zhangcai, the squire of the military department, said: "Master Pan has always been worried about your illness, and he often talks to me about you, and he keeps saying that he wants to come, but he can't spare time because of his cumbersome official duties. Even now, Pan Weng has just returned from the East School...... "Although he is also a civil official from Jinshi, he has been a assassin in the northwest for a few years, and has fought twice with the Tubo Zhuxia in the west, so his words are less civilized." "I haven't seen you in a while, how are you doing now? Is it okay to hurt Lisuo? What about eye diseases? Two days ago, someone brought me two boxes of three refining Seven Treasures Grass Returning Pill, which is the best grade for replenishing blood and qi, and I will have someone send it to you when I turn around. ”

"It's bothering the two adults. The wounds on his body are almost healed right now; Eye diseases are like this, one by one, good is not much better, and bad is not much worse. Shang Cheng replied with a smile while thinking about the intentions of the two waiters in his heart. At this moment, the sky has not even passed, and it is still early for the yamen to disperse at three o'clock in the Shen hour, and the two court officials who supervised the grinding and investigation are not sitting in the public office, what are they doing in the post station? Got something important to talk to yourself? So why not wear an official uniform? And what's the reason to make a trip yourself? If they want to find out what they want to know, they don't have to make a trip by themselves, just send a warrant and find a paperwork...... He took the teapot sent by his own soldiers, shook the pot slowly with both hands, and waited until the spices in the tea soup were evenly cleaned, and then slowly refilled the cups in front of the two of them. While pouring water, he quietly observed the expressions of the two waiters. Pan Lian's fingers picked open the book, and his eyelids lowered as if he were reading; Cao Zhang's face was full of gentle smiles, and his soft gaze touched his gaze, and then turned away silently.

After pouring the tea, he put the pot back on the wooden tray in the middle of the stone table and said nothing.

Pan Lian held the teacup in both hands to keep warm, still immersed in reading. Cao Zhang didn't seem to be in the mood to speak, only squinted his eyes and turned his head around, as if enjoying the scenery in the garden, his eyes lingering on the thick ice in the pond for a long time.

The three of them did not speak for a moment.

The golden sunlight slanted into the pavilion, hiding the faces of Pan Lian and Cao Zhang in the shadow. A jackdaw or two croaked in a corner of the garden. Behind a bare grove, a cloud of ash in the western sky was already pressing down on the brim of the red brick wall. In the private courtyard of the past, there was a faint sound of silk and bamboo, which seemed to be waving intermittently in the winter sky.

After a long time, Cao Zhang picked up the teacup, and the dark pupils stared deeply at Shang Cheng from the rim of the cup, and took a sip of hot tea, before he opened his mouth to break the silence: "General Zida is really patient. Yes, Master Pan and I are here to ask you something. He slowly lowered the teacup to the table. In the crisp sound of the fine porcelain cup and the stone tabletop, he said in a deep tone, "Our army was defeated in the grassland, and Tu Qi followed south, not only invading Yanshan, but also the two guards of Bohai Dingjin were not spared. Fortunately, the officials of the two guards worked hard, and the army and the people hated the same enemy, and they were unable to bargain......"

Shang Cheng sat on his knees with his hands on his hands, quietly listening to Cao Zhang's half-written narration. At present, Cao Chunde said these things, he knew from the military newspaper early in the morning. The grassland was defeated, Li Wei fled to Dingjin, Xiao Jian and Yang Du ran to the Bohai Sea, and the Mogan army fought all the way back to Yanshan. However, the situation in the two border towns is different from that of Yanshan. First, they were not the main force of this northern expedition, the troops in the territory were relatively abundant, the defense system was basically complete, and secondly, they did not face many enemies, so they quickly stabilized their positions after the initial panic, and then after a series of battles in two months, they had driven the invading Turks back to the grassland before the arrival of Layue.

“…… Xiao Jian and Guo Biao both heard one thing in the details of the battle, before the army broke through in Mogan, it was you who repeatedly suggested that the army should go east through the White Wolf Pass and then turn to Bohaiwei in the south. Cao Zhang stared at Shang Cheng calmly, and paused before continuing, "I came here today to ask you about this matter, and you insist that Yang Du will definitely rescue Mo Gan, what is the evidence?" ”

Shang Cheng shook his head and said, "I don't have any credentials. At that time, he proposed to join the right army of Xiang ** Wei and Yang Du, and it was not without evidence, but Xiao Jian and Guo Biao did not let him finish his words twice, and he had no choice. Besides, Xiao Jian and Guo Biao's worries are not unreasonable, after all, the lack of food in the army is also a fact, there is no food one by one, if you go east, the extra 300 miles, what will the army eat? However, the message from Bohai in October showed that Yang Du was indeed desperately moving closer to the Central Route Army when Mogan broke through, and had already reached the east side of the White Wolf Pass; On the second day of the army's breakthrough, Yang Du broke through the White Wolf Pass and rescued Xiao Jian and the First Route Army. However, all that he had done had lost its meaning by then, and the army in the middle had been routed......

"Oh? One by one, then how can you say that Yang Du will definitely rescue the middle lane army? Cao Zhang's eyes glared at Shang Cheng with gloomy eyes.

"I base my judgment on three things." Shang Cheng straightened his back, looked at Cao Zhang at eye level, and said slowly, "First, at that time, our army had been trapped in Mogan for almost half a month, and 70,000 soldiers and civilians ate horses, and the food in Moganzhai was absolutely impossible to support for too long, and it would definitely choose one direction to break through." If you turn to the east, you will have to walk 300 miles longer than you should retreat south, and you will have to spend seven to ten more days of food. Therefore, in terms of food, the reliability of a breakthrough to the south is higher than that of the east. We know this, and the Turquois also know that since it is no longer a secret, it will lose its concealment if we continue to the south, and the Turbidians can judge the direction of our breakthrough by virtue of this calculation, and then set a trap cloth pocket for us. So I thought it would be better to go east, at least to give them a surprise and break their arrangement. ”

Cao Zhang listened expressionlessly. Pan Lian continued to read silently.

"Second, Yang Du is a veteran of the battlefield, it is impossible for him not to know that after the defeat of Li Wei's army, the left flank of the middle route army has lost its barrier, and then he will retreat directly to the Bohai Sea, and the middle route army will have to face the entire left wing of the Tuchuci, the left four divisions of Heshan, the six divisions of Heishui, the three divisions of Alegu, the thirteen tribes plus the 20,000 big tent soldiers directly under the jurisdiction of the king of Donglugu, enough 100,000 men and horses on the court, and the Mogan army has no hope of survival. If the middle route army is finished, Yanshan will also be finished, not to mention the Bohai Sea at that time, I am afraid that the Central Plains will fall into the iron hooves of the Sudden Exhaustion. Yang Du can't afford this responsibility one by one! No one can afford it! He didn't dare not save it! His voice suddenly became a little hoarse, as if the words were squeezed out of his throat, and Pan Lian's fingers pressed on the page couldn't help but tremble slightly. Third, at that time, Mogan's situation was that the defense of the Turpentine in the east was stronger than that in the south, and it was very puzzling to do so before they judged the direction of our army's breakthrough," Shang Cheng raised his eyebrows and smiled lightly at the corners of his mouth, "I always feel that this is a bit of a cover-up......

His voice slowly deepened, and his eyes stared blankly at the teacup in front of him, his expression both sad and painful.

The two squires were silent for a moment.

After a while, Cao Zhang asked again: "I heard that when you proposed to launch the Yandong Campaign, you also put forward a plan to enter the grassland from Lankou and draw a large encirclement from west to east, right?" ”

Shang Chang let out a long breath, shook his head and said with a wry smile: "I mentioned such a plan. Now that I think about it, it's true that I'm too arrogant and my plan is too ridiculous......" He laughed at himself with self-deprecation, but there was a look of deep regret in his eyes. The Turks on the grassland are like a wolf, both cunning and ferocious, every step of the idea is rigorous and meticulous, there are few loopholes, every attack is straight on the seven inches of the Zhao army, three or five strokes will beat the 100,000 Zhao army to lose their armor and flee in embarrassment. However, the Turks who entered Yanshan were arrogant and arrogant, arrogant and stupid to the point of not knowing what to do, and they did not even know how to open up the rear front, and obviously there was no unified command or clear combat intention. Comparing before and after, the results are obvious, the battle in this section of Yanshan is obviously not the handiwork of the grassland wolf! Yanshan is such a big piece of fat, why didn't the wolf come? How can this be explained if it weren't for the fact that something terrible had happened within the Turbids?

"You figured that something was going on inside the Turks, didn't you?"

"Yes."

Cao Zhang nodded and said, "Four days ago, General Ximen made an urgent report from Fangzhou and learned a piece of news through interrogation of the prisoners: the king of Donglu Valley in Tuqi was seriously injured in Mogan, and he was no longer able to ...... the council."

Shang Cheng's eyebrows jumped suddenly, and the staggered "yi"-shaped scar on his right cheek flashed a red light for a moment, and then dimmed again. The king of Donglu Valley was seriously injured, so what? At present, half of Yanshan Mountain is sparsely beaten, and there is no strength to enter the grassland at all. What's more, when he came up with that bold plan, winter had just begun, and the road and weather conditions could still cooperate, even if it was a little difficult, he could grit his teeth and persevere; Right now...... He glanced at the thick ice in the pond by the gazebo. Now I can only regret it......

At this time, Pan Lian, who had not spoken since he sat down, asked, "I heard that you used to be a monk in Jiazhou?" ”

Shang Cheng didn't know what the servant of the Ministry of Officials meant by asking this for a while, so he replied cautiously: "Yes." ”

"Why did you suddenly become vulgar again?"

Shang Cheng pretended to hesitate for a moment, and after a while he said, "I can't bear those rules and precepts in the temple. ”

Pan Lian was silent again. All three of them felt as if they had nothing to say, and the atmosphere became awkward.

After sitting for a while, the two squires took their leave.

Shang Cheng kept sending them out of the post house and watched them get on the shuttle car and leave. He didn't turn back immediately, but stood on the steps and stared at the pedestrians coming and going on the street.

He stood there for a long time......